Installation

Before you begin

Note

This guide assumes the server and client machines all share the same operating system (Linux, macOS, or Windows). It is possible to set up an HQueue farm with mixed operating systems, but that is not covered in this quick guide.

The following items are required before setting up an HQueue farm:

Network connectivity	Machines must be able to "see" or ping each other by their domain (DNS) names or by their IP addresseses. Client machines must be able to connect to the server machine through port `5000`. The server machine must be able to connect to client machines through port `5001`. This may require opening ports in any local firewalls.
Shared network folder	The servers and clients must be able to access a shared network filesystem, for example an NFS mount of SMB share. The shared folder must be mounted at the same location on every machine, for example `/nfs/storage/` on Linux, or `\\bigdisk\hq` on Windows.
Houdini	Install Houdini on every client machine in the same install directory. Mac On macOS, the default Houdini installation path is `/Applications/Houdini/HoudiniX.Y.ZZZ`. Windows On Windows, the default Houdini installation path is `C:/Program Files/Side Effects Software/Houdini X.Y.ZZZ`. Linux On Linux, the default Houdini installation path is `/opt/hfsX.Y.ZZZ`. Houdini licensing must be set up correctly on each client machine as well, so the client software can launch licensed executables such as `hython` and `mantra`.

Installing HQueue

Setting up a farm on macOS

Here are the steps for setting up HQueue on a farm of macOS machines:

Install the HQueue Server
- Choose a machine, say serverMachine, to run the HQueue Server.
- On the machine, download and run the Houdini installer.
- In the installer, check on HQueue -> HQueue Server in the components list. Proceed with the installation.
- After installation completes the server will be installed at /Library/HQServer and a new com.sidefx.hqserver.plist service file will exist in /Library/LaunchDaemons.
- You can open a web browser and navigate to http://serverMachine:5000 to confirm that the HQueue server is running.
  
  Note
  
  If DNS is not configured for serverMachine then you can connect to HQueue using the server machine’s IP address.
  
  For example, http://X.X.X.X:5000.
Register the network folder with HQueue
- On the server machine, open the HQueue Server configuration file, /Library/HQServer/hqserver.ini, in a text editor.
- Look for the hqserver.sharedNetwork.mount.macosx key and set it to where the network folder is mounted on the machines.
  For example, if the network folder is mounted at /Volumes/myShare then the hqserver.ini file should contain this line:
```
hqserver.sharedNetwork.mount.macosx = /Volumes/myShare
```
- Save the changes to the hqserver.ini file.
- Then restart the HQueue Server by executing these commands in a terminal:
```
sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.sidefx.hqserver.plist
sudo launchctl load /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.sidefx.hqserver.plist
```
Add a client machine
- Open a web browser and go to the HQueue web interface. For example, http://serverMachine:5000.
- Click the Clients icon at the top-right corner to open the Clients page.
- Click Add Clients. In the popup dialog, choose "macOS" as the platform and then click Continue.
- On the next page:
  - Enter the name of the machine to be added in the Machines field.
  - For the Admin. Username and Admin. Password fields, enter the username and password of an administrator account that exists on the machine. HQueue needs the administrator account to remotely log into the machine and install the HQueue Client.
  - Leave all other fields at their defaults.
- Click Add Machines and wait a few seconds. The machine will then appear in the Clients page and the HQueue Client will be installed to /Library/HQClient and a new com.sidefx.hqclient.plist service file will exist in /Library/LaunchDaemons.
Note

Repeat these steps for each additional client machine you want to add to the farm.

Note

If adding the machine failed with a "Connection Refused" error then check out this FAQ.

Setting up a farm on Windows

Here are the steps for setting up HQueue on a farm of Windows machines:

Install the HQueue Server
- Choose a machine, say serverMachine, to run the HQueue Server.
- On the machine, download and run the Houdini installer.
- In the installer:
  - Uncheck all components except for HQueue Server.
  - Proceed with the installation and when prompted leave all HQueue Server options at their default values.
- After installation completes the server will be installed at C:/HQueueServer and a new HQueueServer service will exist in Windows Services.
- You can open a web browser and navigate to http://serverMachine:5000 to confirm that the HQueue server is running.
  
  Note
  
  If DNS is not configured for serverMachine then you can connect to HQueue using the server machine’s IP address.
  
  For example, http://X.X.X.X:5000.
Register the network folder with HQueue
- On the server machine, open the HQueue Server configuration file, C:/HQueueServer/hqserver.ini, in a text editor.
- Look for the hqserver.sharedNetwork.host key and set it to the machine that is serving the network folder.
- Look for the hqserver.sharedNetwork.path.windows key and set it to the network folder’s share name.
- Look for the hqserver.sharedNetwork.mount.windows key and set it to the drive letter that the network folder is mapped to.
- For example, suppose your network folder is served on a machine named myFileServer and its share name is myShare, and your machines map X: to \\myFileServer\myShare, then the hqserver.ini file should contain these lines:
```
hqserver.sharedNetwork.host = myFileServer
hqserver.sharedNetwork.path.windows = myShare
hqserver.sharedNetwork.mount.windows = X:
```
- Save the changes to the hqserver.ini file.
- Then restart the HQueue Server by restarting the HQueueServer Windows service. For example, go to Control Panel → Administrative Tools → Services, locate HQueueServer in the services list, RMB-click it and choose Restart.
Add a client machine
- Run the Houdini installer on the machine that you want to add.
- In the installer:
  - Uncheck all components except for HQueue Client.
  - Proceed with the installation and when prompted to enter the HQueue server information, set the Name field to the machine hosting the HQueue Server. For example, serverMachine.
    
    Note
    
    If DNS is not configured for serverMachine then you can alternatively enter the server machine’s IP address in the Name field.
  - Leave the rest of the HQueue Client options at their default values.
- After installation completes the HQueue Client will be installed to C:/HQueueClient and a new HQueueClient service will exist in Windows Services.
- Go to the Clients page in the HQueue web interface to confirm that the machine was successfully added to the farm.
Note

Repeat these steps for each additional client machine you want to add to the farm.

Note

The HQueue Client by default runs with a generic Windows network service account. The account has limited network access and may not have permission to access your network folder.

It is recommended that the HQueue Client be changed so that is run with a real Windows user account to avoid possible file permission errors in jobs. To change the HQueue Client’s user account, please follow this FAQ.

Setting up a farm on Linux

Here are the steps for setting up HQueue on a farm of Linux machines:

Install the HQueue Server
- Choose a machine, say serverMachine, to run the HQueue Server.
- On the machine, download the Houdini installer tarball, unpack it and run the Houdini installer with sudo.
  For example:
```
tar zxf houdini-X.Y.ZZZ-linux_x86_64_gcc6.3.tar.gz
cd houdini-X.Y.ZZZ-linux_x86_64_gcc6.3
sudo ./houdini_install
```
- In the installer:
  - Uncheck all components except for HQueue Server.
  - Proceed with the installation and when prompted leave all HQueue Server options at their default values.
- After installation completes the server will be installed at /opt/hqueue.
- You can open a web browser and navigate to http://serverMachine:5000 to confirm that the HQueue server is running.
  
  Note
  
  If DNS is not configured for serverMachine then you can connect to HQueue using the server machine’s IP address.
  
  For example, http://X.X.X.X:5000.
Register the network folder with HQueue
- On the server machine, open the HQueue Server configuration file, /opt/hqueue/hqserver.ini, in a text editor.
- Look for the hqserver.sharedNetwork.mount.linux key and set it to where the network folder is mounted on the machines.
  For example, if the network folder is mounted at /mnt/myShare then the hqserver.ini file should contain this line:
```
hqserver.sharedNetwork.mount.linux = /mnt/myShare
```
- Save the changes to the hqserver.ini file.
- Then restart the HQueue Server by executing these commands in a terminal:
```
cd /opt/hqueue
sudo ./scripts/hqserverd restart
```
Add a client machine
- On the machine to be added, download the Houdini installer tarball, unpack it and run the Houdini installer (without sudo).
  For example:
```
tar zxf houdini-X.Y.ZZZ-linux_x86_64_gcc6.3.tar.gz
cd houdini-X.Y.ZZZ-linux_x86_64_gcc6.3
./houdini_install
```
Note

The HQueue Client will execute jobs using the user account that runs the ./houdini_install installer script.
- In the installer:
  - When asked to re-run the installer as root, enter "no".
  - Uncheck all components except for HQueue Client.
  - Proceed with the installation and when prompted for the HQueue Server to connect to, set the URL to point to your farm. For example, http://serverMachine:5000.
    
    Note
    
    If DNS is not configured for serverMachine then you can alternatively use the server machine’s IP address in the URL.
    
    For example, http://X.X.X.X:5000.
  - Leave the rest of the HQueue Client options at their default values.
- After installation completes the HQueue Client will be installed in your home directory, $HOME/hqclient.
  Note
  
  If the installer fails to unpack HQueue installation files due to "Cannot open: File exists" errors, then remove the local hqueue subdirectory. For example:
  
  cd houdini-X.Y.ZZZ-linux_x86_64_gcc6.3 sudo rm -rf hqueue
  
  Then re-run the Houdini installer:
  
  ./houdini_install
- Go to the Clients page in the HQueue web interface to confirm that the machine was successfully added to the farm.
Note

Repeat these steps for each additional client machine you want to add to the farm.

Testing the Farm

To test that the HQueue farm is configured correctly you can submit a simple Houdini render job.

Here’s how:

Launch Houdini.
Create a simple scene. At a minimum, put down some geometry, a light, a camera and a Mantra ROP for rendering.
Navigate to the /out node network and put down an HQueue Render ROP.
In the Parameters pane, set the Output Driver parameter to your Mantra ROP.
Point the HQueue Server parameter to your HQueue farm. For example, http://serverMachine:5000.

Note

If DNS is not configured for serverMachine then you can alternatively use the server machine’s IP address in the URL. For example, http://X.X.X.X:5000.
Then set Target HFS to where Houdini is installed on the client machines.
Mac
For macOS, set Target HFS to:
/Applications/Houdini/HoudiniX.Y.ZZZ/Frameworks/Houdini.framework/Versions/Current/Resources
Windows
For Windows, set Target HFS to:
C:/Program Files/Side Effects Software/Houdini X.Y.ZZZ
Linux
For Linux, set Target HFS to:
/opt/hfsX.Y.ZZZ
Save the .hip file somewhere in your network folder.

Mac

On macOS, the network folder is defined by the hqserver.sharedNetwork.mount.macosx key in the HQueue Server configuration file. For example, save the .hip file to /Volumes/myShare/test.hip.

Windows

On Windows, the network folder is defined by the hqserver.sharedNetwork.mount.windows key in the HQueue Server configuration file. For example, save the .hip file to X:/test.hip.

Linux

On Linux, the network folder is defined by the hqserver.sharedNetwork.mount.linux key in the HQueue Server configuration file. For example, save the .hip file to /mnt/myShare/test.hip.
Click Submit Job at the top of the Parameters pane.
- A new job will appear in the HQueue web interface.
- You can click on the job’s id to dive into the job and see more details.

Troubleshooting

When a job fails, you can find out why by clicking on the job’s id in the HQueue web interface. This will take you inside of the job where you can see more details. If any of the job’s Child Jobs failed then click on the child job’s id to further dive inside. Eventually you will see an Output Log field with the job’s output. The output will contain an error message indicating why the job failed.

Check out the Troubleshooting FAQs for information on common job failure errors and possible solutions.

Optional: `hquser` account

On client machines you can optionally set up an hquser user and hqgroup user group to run Hqueue as. By convention the user and group ID are both 601, and the user’s password is hqpass, but you can change these.

Linux

Your Linux distribution may come with a user interface for creating user accounts, otherwise use the adduser command.

Mac

You can create users and groups in the Users and Groups panel of System Preferences.

Having consistent user accounts across clients has benefits:

Don’t have to keep track of different user accounts on different machines when you need to log into a particular client.
All files created by the client software are owned by a single consistent user.

Once you have created the user and group, you should start the HQueue server/client as hquser.

Installation

Before you begin

Installing HQueue

Setting up a farm on macOS

Setting up a farm on Windows

Setting up a farm on Linux

Testing the Farm

Troubleshooting

Optional: `hquser` account

HQueue

Getting started

Managing the farm

Next steps

Guru level

Before you begin

Installing HQueue

Setting up a farm on macOS

Setting up a farm on Windows

Setting up a farm on Linux

Testing the Farm

Troubleshooting

Optional: hquser account

HQueue

Getting started

Managing the farm

Next steps

Guru level

Optional: `hquser` account